Training shouldn’t be ignored. Here’s how to give it the attention it deserves…
‘We’re corporate communications specialists’. It’s easy to make such a claim. However, it’s another story when trying to prove the claim is real.
Ever since we made our claim, we’ve had a fear of being found out (not that we’ve got anything to hide mind you). It’s just we know we’ll never be able to say, ‘right, that’s it chaps, we’ve made it, we can’t get any more expert than what we are right now’.
It is this fear of never being expert enough that drives us to continually improve. Yes, the clients and work we choose to take on helps, but more importantly, it is the training we undertake that really matters.
The following is our approach to training. Hope it is of assistance…
- Each member of staff is empowered to form their own professional development plan. It should however reflect the goals of the agency and be regularly monitored. The plans have proved to keep staff loyal and highly motivated.
- We support staff with money and time (obviously within reason, and where appropriate).
- We are constantly gathering information on training needs. This is through such things as looking at industry trends, conducting appraisals with team members and gaining feedback from clients.
- Above all, the training we undertake has to have an effect on performance. We always evaluate whether the training has strengthened our expertise.
- Yes, our designers are trained largely on improving their design skills (Lynda.com is a resource we use a lot for this purpose, so thought it deserved a mention). However, it is important they receive training on other things, such as client relationship, creative management and, team building. If the latter, for example, means drunken away days, drunken away days is what we’ll do.
For us, learning is an investment, not a cost.
Until next time…
RIMA